Alba Berlin locked up a berth in the Last 16 by beating Dexia Mons-Hainaut 83-63 on Tuesday night at 02 World. The game was closer than the final score would indicate with the visitors owning a 7-point lead in the third quarter. But the hosts reeled off 13 unanswered points for a 59-51 lead after 30 minutes and kept piling it on down the stretch to register the win and also knock Mons out of Last 16 contention. The win lifted Berlin to 4-1, which is best in Group H. DaShaun Wood starred with 16 points and 9 assists for Berlin and Torin Francis added 16 points on perfect shooting. Derrick Allen scored 15 and grabbed 8 rebounds, while Bryce Taylor and Yassin Idbihi netted 11 and 10 points, respectively. Ahmad Nivins paced Mons with 19 points and 9 rebounds in defeat. Ronell Taylor added 14 for Mons, which dropped to 1-4.

Berlin scored on its first four possessions – with 4 points coming from Francis – to take an early 7-2 lead, but soon a Shan Foster triple narrowed the gap to a basket. Francis stayed hot for the hosts, while Mons got points from a variety of options. Ronell Taylor’s three-point play brought Mons within 1. Then he benefitted from Warren Carter’s steal and scored a layup to put the visitors ahead, but Heiko Schaffartzik scored to leave Alba on top 19-18 after 10 minutes. The teams traded baskets to open the second quarter with the score showing ties at 22, 24 and 27. Sebastien Bellin’s triple put Mons back on top and Nivins stretched it to 29-34. Wood corrected his miss to bring Berlin back within a point, but a pair of Nivins buckets kept Mons ahead 36-38 at the break.

Foster connected from downtown as Mons jumped out to a 40-47 edge two minutes into the second half. Bryce Taylor nudged Berlin back within 3, but Mons stayed in its rhythm and kept generating offense. However a Schaffartzik triple carried Berlin back to a 51-51 tie, Allen put the hosts ahead and Marko Simonovic added a big three. Idbihi finally ended a 13-0 Berlin run to make it 59-51 at the end of the third quarter. Ronell Taylor converted a basket-plus-foul to start the fourth quarter, but soon Schaffartzik fed Idbihi inside to lift the Berliners to a 10-point lead. Allen and Idbihi added buckets inside as the lead swelled to 70-56. Ronell Taylor and Nivins tried to spark a Mons comeback, but Wood delivered the knockout blow with a triple that made it 77-62 with less than two minutes to play and allowed the home team to celebrate.

Head Coaches

HERBERT, GORDON

Alba Berlin

"I really liked the way played basketball in the last 15 minutes. Before that we struggled, especially defensively. We were missing energy and it felt a bit like running through sand. But in the middle of the third quarter Heiko Schaffartzik and Dashaun Wood stepped up big for us. We were getting stops on defense leading to easy points and finally found a rhythm. After the loss in Poland this is an important win for us and I am happy that we reached our goal of advancing to the Last 16."

SHIVEK, ARIE

Belfius Mons-Hainaut

"The better team won today. Alba showed through the whole regular season that they are the best team in this group – especially at home. We played very good basketball for 25 minutes today. I liked how we stuck to our game plan. But Alba is a consistent and deep team. We were leading by 7 in the third quarter, but they came back. I really have to give credit to the Alba defense. After they got the lead back, we had no answers."